A Moment of Panic
by BackgroundRobot-11
Summary: Instead of going in after Maizono, Kuwata runs off and tells everyone what happened. How will everyone cope, and how will Naegi see Maizono after this?


Naegi settled into Maizono's bed, a feeling of unease creeping into him. Maizono had clearly been freaked out when she came over. She had told him that someone had tried to break into her room and that she was too scared to sleep. So, she had proposed that for her own peace of mind, the two trade rooms for the night. Naegi was happy to do so, if it made her feel better, but he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.

Still, as long as Maizono was safe…Naegi turned over and closed his eyes.

He hoped she'd be okay.

"Huh? What?" Naegi asked groggily, sitting up in the bed.

Something had woken him, and after a moment, he realised that it was the doorbell. He glanced at the clock in the room. 1:30 AM. For a moment, he remained where he was, confused. Who would want to see him at this hour? A feeling of dread pierced through him. What if it was Maizono? Had something happened to her? At once, he leapt out of bed and ran to the door, yanking it open and hurrying outside.

"-ELP! SHE TRIED TO KILL ME! HELP!"

Naegi skidded to a halt. It wasn't Maizono, it was Kuwata, and he was frantically running down the hallway, screaming and pressing everyone's doorbell as he ran past their rooms. Naegi's eyes widened in alarm. He could see that Kuwata's shirt sleeve had been torn open, and a long, ragged cut ran down his arm. Blood flowed freely from the wound, splattering onto the floor.

Ishimaru, Kirigiri and Oowada were already out of their rooms and looking around in confusion, and Togami, who seemed visibly annoyed, was just stepping out of his.

"Kuwata! Stop this at once!" Ishimaru barked "You're breaking the Night Time rule _and_ you're running in the hall!"

"He said he's just been attacked, you idiot!" Oowada snapped.

Ishimaru blinked in surprise "What?!"

One by one, the other students came out of their room to see who had rung their doorbells.

Junko stood in her doorway, looking irate, her hair in a tangled mess. Naegi thought he saw a black strand amidst her pink-blonde locks. _Does she dye her hair?_ She had hastily plastered some make-up onto her face, her mascara was streaked. For a moment, Naegi wondered why she had even bothered to apply it in the first place. He shook his head, there were more important things to worry about.

"The hell is going on?" Junko asked as she swept a hand through her hair.

"What happened? Is everyone okay?" Asahina asked from behind Oogami, who was standing in front of her protectively.

"For interrupting mu beauty sleep, someone had better be dead," Celes said testily, her accent slipping.

"Kuwata's screaming his head off, says someone tried to kill him," Oowada replied, his eyes darting around.

There was a collective cry of alarm as Mondo's words sunk in. Someone had tried to commit a murder? Who? Was it because of the motive that Monokuma had provided? Where were they now? Did they still have a weapon?

"Wait, where is he now?" Naegi asked, looking around.

The others peered around, but saw no sight of the injured baseball player. At that moment, Hagakure and Yamada stepped out from around the corner where their rooms were. Both looked decidedly confused.

"Hey, guys, why is Kuwata huddled up in the corner?" Hagakure asked, seemingly oblivious to the seriousness of the situation.

The others walked over to Hagakure and Yamada, and saw that Hagakure was correct. Slumped over in the corner of the hallway, next to Yamada's room, was Kuwata. His legs were drawn up to his chest and he was moaning. Before any of the others could do anything, Kirigiri quickly strode over to Kuwata, then kneeling down in front of him.

"Kuwata? Kuwata, listen to me, you need to tell us who attacked you," Kirigiri said, her voice calm but firm.

Kuwata muttered something that Naegi didn't hear. He frowned and looked around. At first, he had thought that everyone had left their rooms, but he had just noticed that someone was absent.

Where was Maizono?

A cold chill ran down Naegi's spine. Had whoever attacked Kuwata gone after Maizono as well? He looked back at the blood trail that Kuwata had left, tracing it back to its source. His heart almost stopped when he saw where it started. His room.

Naegi's eyes widened in alarm. _No, it couldn't be. Maizono would never_...Naegi's jaw dropped and he let out a choking sound. He tried to say something, but the words would not come. Asahina looked at him in concern.

"S-so? Who d-d-did it?" Fukawa asked Kirigiri, drawing Naegi's attention back to her.

Kirigiri stood up and looked back at the group "The culprit, the one who attacked Kuwata, is Sayaka Maizono."

Naegi froze. No, no, no, no, no, no. It wasn't true, it couldn't be true!

"Hmmm, out of everyone, I would not have expected her to make the first move," Togami said, his eyes flicking briefly to Oowada "Even in spite of her reaction to Monokuma's DVDs."

"Stop it," Naegi whispered, his voice barely audible.

"B-but could Maizono really do something like that? She seemed so sweet…" Fujisaki murmured, eyes downcast.

"Then I guess she was far better at hiding her true nature than any of us thought," Celes said, looking thoughtful.

"Stop," Naegi said again, louder and more forcefully that time. As before, no one heard him.

"I b-b-b-bet she was p-planning on k-k-killing us all, r-right from the start!" Fukawa stammered, angrily "Singers are notoriously screwed-up in the head!"

"STOP IT!" Naegi shouted at the top of his voice.

Fukawa and Fujisaki jumped in alarm, caught completely off-guard by Naegi's outburst.

"There's no way Maizono would have tried to kill Kuwata! She's not like that, she would never-!"

"Kuwata's account, plus Maizono's conspicuous absence suggests otherwise," Togami said with a sneer "You must really be delusional not to see the obvious."

Kirigiri shot Togami a brief, but annoyed look "Togami is correct. Maizono is the most likely suspect here. Speaking of which, we need to make sure that she hasn't tried to run off somewhere. Someone who would attempt a murder shouldn't be allowed to roam the halls." And at that, she walked off, back down the corridor.

Kirigiri strode over to Naegi's room. She made to open the door, then paused for a moment, a curious look on her face. She leaned in close to examine the door plate, then stepped back and went through the door. Celes trailed after her, as did Togami, Fukawa, Asahina, Hagakure, Junko and Yamada

Naegi looked over to where Kuwata had slumped over. Oowada and Oogami were kneeling beside him, examining the wound. Ishimaru was hovering a short distance away, as was Fujisaki, looking scared. Despite the fact that he was some feet away, Naegi could hear Kuwata whimpering from where he was standing.

"Stop bein' a pussy!" Oowada snarled "She barely grazed you!"

"The psycho-bitch tried to kill me!" Kuwata cried "I think I'm entitled to a little panic!"

Oogami sighed as she wrapped bandages around Kuwata's wounded arm.

Naegi lingered there for a moment, before turning and slowly walking towards his room. His head was swimming, this situation was already surreal and horrifying, but this latest news had shook him to the core. How could Maizono do this? How could she attack and try to kill one of their friends? He had seen how shaken she had been after Monokuma's DVD, but he had thought that their talk afterwards had resolved the issue.

"I guess I was wrong," he muttered sadly to himself, before stepping into his room.

Hagakure was throwing himself, shoulder first, into the bathroom door. The others were assembled around him, watching him failing to open the door.

"It won't budge!" He exclaimed, before trying to shove the door open again.

"Is that really the best you can do?" Togami asked, disdainfully.

Kirigiri raised a brow "Do you think you can do better, Togami?"

Togami rolled his eyes "Please, labour such as that is beneath me."

"She must have locked the door behind her, and we do not have a key. Most unfortunate," Celes said.

"No, it's not locked, "Naegi said, faintly.

All eyes turned on him.

"Oh? And why do you say that? The door will not open, it stands to reason that it is locked," Celes said.

"Indeed, what other explanation is there?" Togami asked.

"It can't be locked, the door doesn't have one," Naegi replied.

"Of c-c-c-course there's a lock, all of the g-g-girls rooms have locks! It's to k-k-keep out perverts like you!" Fukawa snapped.

"But this isn't Maizono's room, it's mine," Naegi informed them.

There was a pause, then Togami spoke up "What?"

Naegi explained how Maizono had come to him, with her story of how someone had tried to break into her room, of how she had suggested that they trade rooms for the night.

"And you believed her?" Togami scoffed "You're more of an imbecile than I thought."

"That was quite naïve of you," Celes added "Naegi, you are far too trusting."

Junko cast an odd look at Naegi that he wasn't sure what to make of.

Naegi cast his eyes down to his feet "Yeah."

Kirigiri spoke up "Back to the topic at hand, if this truly is Naegi's room, and there is no lock, why won't the door open?"

"Maybe she's propping herself up against the door?" Asahina offered.

"Na, it's not that, it doesn't feel like anyone's leaning against the door," Hagakure replied. He had given up on ramming the door open, but had moved on to trying to push it open.

"Look, there's a trick to opening the door. You have to lift it as you open it, and…" Naegi showed them, and the door swung open easily. The group peered in, knowing what they would find.

Huddled in the shower, clutching a bloody knife, was Sayaka Maizono.


End file.
